maaxx.ca

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Meta, through its subsidiaries, Facebook and Instagram, was forced to block news content in Canada in the form of texts, photos and videos.

This difficult decision was made by Facebook and Instagram because Canada currently has regulations that force platforms like Google and Facebook to pay for content produced by news companies, and they refuse to follow these regulations.

For your information, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) also echoed similar regulations through the “publishers’ rights” policy. Kominfo and several institutions are currently working on this policy.

Facebook and Instagram have started blocking news content from Canada, often applying the rules of the “Online News Act”. The rules require platform providers such as Google and Meta to pay compensation to media companies, as producers of news content distributed through social networks and other Internet services.

“News links and content uploaded by news and broadcasting companies are no longer accessible to users in Canada,” said in Meta’s official statement, reported by Engadget, quoted on Saturday (05/08/2023 ).

“We identified the media companies based on the legislative definitions and guidance of the Online Information Act,” Meta’s announcement said.

Not only local media content, but also international news will be blocked on Facebook and Instagram platforms in Canada.

Facebook said this action had to be taken because it could not meet the requested compensation policy. Indeed, the advertising revenues of the platforms have declined over the last two years, following the increasingly massive growth of online services.

Meanwhile, Canadian authorities say the online news law is an effort to enforce justice for media companies. Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that media companies could earn $329 million from the Online News Act.

For information, before Canada and Indonesia, Australia had already implemented a similar policy. Google and Facebook threatened to block it, but eventually managed to agree on the rules of the game in this country.

(Firda Dwi/hsy)